Chapter 12
**A few days later**
I washed the plate and handed it to Alyssa to dry. She seemed to be daydreaming. Every now and then I'd have to nudge her to wake her up.
"You OK?" I asked after the fifth time she spaced out on me.
She turned to me and didn't speak for a while.
"I kissed Dominic!" she blurted out, turning all red.
I almost dropped the cup I was holding.
"What? When? How was it? WHAT?"
She sighed, putting the plate down and facing me.
"It was yesterday when I was helping him upstairs. I don't know, we were just talking and we kissed." Her eyes fell and she said softly to herself, "I told myself I wasn't going to let him do this again."
Again?
"Again?" I repeated.
Her eyes widened and her head shot up. I guessed she didn't know she'd said it aloud.
"What do you mean by again?" I asked.
Her eyes looked at me in defeat.
"You remember the summer of junior year? When you took that cruise with your family and Eric's?"
Of course, how could I forget it?
"Yes," I said, nodding.
"Well, something happened that summer that I never told you..." she trailed off, looking around the kitchen.
"What?" I asked again.
What could have been so bad that she could not tell me? We told each other everything!
"Well, you know my dad was a judge-" She stopped for a second, blinking a couple of times before continuing, "-and, well, this woman was caught with drugs and she was going to jail."
"Yeah."
"Well, she had a son, but since he was a minor, he needed to be looked after. My dad offered to take care of him until his mother's hearing. But I wasn't supposed to tell anyone because you know how our town was with the gossip..."
I looked her, already knowing what was coming next.
"Yeah, that boy was Dominic. He lived in my house for three months."
I knew it was coming, but my jaw still dropped.
"What happened?"
I could barely hear my own voice because I was still in shock.
"I started liking him, that's what happened. But once his mom got bailed, he left and pretended we never happened."
"Do you know why?"
"No. And I promised myself I'd never let myself fall for him. But-"
I pulled her by the wrist and hugged her.
"Just so you know, I know he really really likes you."
"How do you know? He's been ignoring me again."
"I don't know why he's been ignoring you, but I know he likes you."
Alyssa smiled.
**Several Months Later**
"The sky's clearing up," Dominic noted, taking the lock off his shotgun.
I appeared next to him.
"It better be, it's already May, and we can't hide here forever," I said, looking through the window.
The sky was definitely clearing up. I mean, it was actually blue now! The snow and rain had finally stopped.
"You think we can find a car that works?" Alyssa asked.
I shrugged.
"I doubt it," I said. I mean, the cars had been frozen under snow and rain for weeks. "We have all the supplies?" I asked.
"Yep," Jeremy answered, throwing all of us a backpack.
"Then let's get going."
*******************************************
"Try again!" I yelled.
I saw Dominic roll his eyes, but he did try to start the car again.
Nothing.
"This is the tenth car we've tried," Alyssa said, looking bored.
I sighed.
"Come on," I said, turning around. "We're walking."
"Walking?"
I stopped and turned. They were all looking at me like I was crazy. I crossed my arms.
"It's the only way. We have no car and I'm not waiting here any longer."
I walked a few feet and realized that they weren't following. I turned to face them, still walking backwards.
"Or...you could wait here until the Zombies get tried of leftovers!"
They all widened their eyes and ran to catch up to me.
I laughed.
*********************************************
"I can't walk anymore," Alyssa complained for the fifth time.
I rolled by eyes and laughed.
"It's only been a few miles," I said, wiping the sweat off my forehead.
"A few miles too much!" she squealed, taking a big breath of air.
I laughed again, but s
uddenly stopped.
"Whats wrong?" Jeremy asked, appearing next to me. I pointed to the floor.
"Car tracks?" Jeremy asked.
I shook my head.
"No, truck tracks."
I followed them. I knew they were my Uncle's truck tracks. I was a hundred percent sure. It looked as if they had lost control of the wheel.
"They slipped on the ice," I whispered to myself, walking faster.
"Ella, wait!" Jeremy shouted, but I walked faster. Then the tracks turned the corner, and so did I.
But I wasn't prepared for what I saw. I screamed.
I covered my mouth and turned around, trying to get the image out of my head.
But it wasn't going anywhere.
"Ella, what-?"
Jeremy stopped mid-sentence, staring at the scene in front of us. I heard Alyssa scream as well, so I ran to her and hugged her, trying not to cry.
The boys remained silent.
The truck was turned over, completely upside down, the front facing us. There was a tree right in the middle of it. The car had snow and ice all over it, but that just made the scene worse.
Because I could see the blood. All over the snow.
Half of Emma's body was sticking out of the passenger side. Her eyes were wide open and her arms were at her side. Her face was all scratched up, worse than before, and her mouth was wide open, as if she was gasping for air.
But Alison...
One of the branches had completely gone through her head, almost ripping it from her neck. Her eyes were closed and there was dry blood on her head.
She had been dead before the tree fell.
They both had been.
There were white flakes all over their bodies. What was that? Ice?
Oh, my God. They were frozen.
Alyssa was crying into my shoulder, and Dominic and Jeremy looked at each other. Then they both walked over to the car.
Jeremy walked over to the front, opening the car door with a pull, while Dominic went to the back, disappearing. I watched as ice fell when Jeremy opened the door. Carefully, trying not to touch Emma's body, he reached in for the necklace hanging on the rear view mirror.
I realized what he was doing.
He was getting my Uncle's cross necklace. I'd told him about it months ago, telling him about how it matched the bracelet he'd got me. I had completely forgotten about it.
But he hadn't.
Dominic came back, our guns on his back.
Both of them came back, but Alyssa and I just stared.
"Let's go," Dominic said, passing us.
"But-"
Dominic cut her off, turning around to face her.
"They're dead, Alyssa. There's nothing we can do about it."
He turned around and kept walking. I guess nothing had changed between them. Alyssa shook her head, silently following Dominic.
I was about to follow when Jeremy grabbed my arms. He turned me around to face him.
He smiled as he held out the necklace. The only piece of my Uncle I had left.
I smiled, looking at him.
"Do I have to put it on myself?" I asked, smirking.
He laughed and moved behind me, putting it on.
"You know, I'm never going to find a way to repay you," I said, looking at my necklace before looking at him.
He took a step closer, shrugging. "You'll find a way." Then, smirking, he passed by me.